Chisnall loses out to van Gerwen in Perth final

Dave Chisnall lost out to Michael van Gerwen in the final after a fine run at the TABtouch Perth Darts Masters.

The Morecambe ace was denied a maiden TV triumph as the world number one prevailed 11-4 at the PCEC on Saturday.

Chisnall had followed up Friday’s superb 10-7 quarter-final win over world champion Gary Anderson with a brilliant display to see off Raymond van Barneveld 11-8 in their semi-final.

However, he once again saw his hopes shattered by van Gerwen as the Dutchman bounced back from last week’s loss to Phil Taylor in Sydney in style, taking a ninth straight win against Chisnall, including victory in January’s Unibet Masters final, and his 14th tournament victory of 2016.

Chizzy said: “Michael showed why he’s world number one - he’s a great player.

“I’ve played Michael a lot of times and he does what he does.

“He wasn’t in his best form tonight but he still wins, he hits the right scores at the right times.

“I tried my hardest and it wasn’t good enough, but I’ll work on it like I always do.

“I’ve had a great weekend and I’m happy - I’ll take a lot of confidence from this week.”

Van Gerwen was always on course to win after racing into a 4-1 lead.

Chisnall hit back to 5-3 before the Dutchman took three in a row, including an 11-darter, to edge towards victory, and though the resort thrower pulled a leg back he was unable to continue his challenge as van Gerwen completed the triumph.

He said: “Dave’s such a good player and you have to produce your best game but I went into the final with a lot of confidence because I had a fantastic record against him.

“I found it hard and didn’t play my best game, but think I did well to win this trophy and I’m glad I did.”